Coldcut slicer

ABSTRACT

A food slicing machine includes various mechanisms for moving the sliced product away from the rotating knife, which are operated by a mechanical drive from the reciprocating motion of the feed carriage; this drive including a toothed belt connected with two free wheeling means so as to transform the reciprocating motion to rotary unidirectional motion; the carriage may also control operation of a braking system and an electron magnetic system.

United States Patent Inventors Ernst Friedrich Muller;

Josef Hausschmid, both of Balingen Wurrtemherg, Germany Appl. No. 838,739 Filed July 3, 1969 Patented June 8, 1971 Assignee Bizerba-Werke Wilhelm Kraut Kg.

Balingen Wurrtemberg, Germany Priority July 6, 1968 Germany P 17 82 009.6

COLDCUT SLICER 12 Claims, 10 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 146/94 Int. CL... 826d 1/14 Field of Search 146/94, 102, 102.9

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2.834.388 5/1958 Meyer .8 146/94 3,124,184 3/ l 964 Docourneau 146/94X 3,431,956 3/1969 Hayes 146/94 FOREIGN PATENTS 509,229 10/1930 Germany 146/94 1,401,651 4/1965 France 146/94 Primary ExaminerWilliam S. Lawson Attorney Christen & Sabol ABSTRACT: A food slicing machine includes various mechanisms for moving the sliced product away from the rotating knife, which are operated by a mechanical drive from the reciprocating motion of the feed carriage; this drive including a toothed belt connected with two free wheeling means so as to transform the reciprocating motion to rotary unidirectional motion; the carriage may also control operation of a braking system and an electron magnetic system.

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lllllllllilllll ATENTED JUN 8I97| SHEET 5 (1F 5 r uuumlmfuhuuuru II IIII COLDCUT SLICER The invention concerns a coldcut slicer, especially for sausages, etc., with a revolving circular knife, a reciprocating feed carriage, a slice delivery device and a feed device for the cutoff slices, the drive of which is derived from the motion of the feed carriage.

In the case of the known coldcut slicers of the above-mentioned type, the slices cut off by the circular knife are conveyed by the conveying device to a spot separated from the knife and are delivered there on a fixed or slidable table. The conveying device at the same time is driven by the reciprocating feed carriage in such a way that it will always convey the cutoff slices in one direction. After reaching the place of delivery, the transportation of the slices is interrupted and the delivery of the slices is accomplished in the rest position of the conveying device. The drive of the conveying arrangement, in the case of the known machines, is complicated, subject to breakdowns and thus uneconomical.

It is the purpose of the invention to simplify the drive of the conveying device derived from the movement of the feed carriage in the case of coldcut slicers without impairment of the safety of the mechanism.

According to the invention the task is solved by the fact that a drive shaft of the conveying device is driven by a driving belt connected with the feed carriage via two freewheeling mechanisms, in such a manner that it will revolve in the same direction as a result of the reciprocating movement of the feed carriage.

In a preferred design of the invention the driving belt is a toothed belt, which on one of its sides is provided with teeth over its entire length and on the opposite side has teeth only along a portion of its length, and that the driving shaft of the conveying device during the forward movement of the carriage is driven by the fully toothed side and during the return movement by the partially toothed side of the belt.

In this design it is provided that the toothed belt with its fully toothed side engages with a gear connected with the driving shaft of the conveying device via the first freewheeling mechanism and with its second partially toothed side drives a gear seated on a rotatably mounted shaft, and that on the latter shaft a further gear is arranged while interposing the second freewheeling mechanism, which is connected via a further toothed belt with a gear fixed on the driving shaft of the conveying device.

In that case it will be advantageous if the teeth on the partially toothed side of the toothed belt are narrower than the width of the belt and if the edge of the belt, which is left smooth runs across the smooth running surfaces of two flangecoupling pulleys, which are arranged at both sides of the gear having a somewhat smaller diameter than the flange-coupling pulleys and receiving the teeth of the belt.

In the case of another design of the invention, provision can also be made that two toothed belts be provided for the driving of the conveying device, whose teeth are directed toward opposite sides, and that the conveying device during the forward movement of the carriage is driven by one and during the return movement by the other toothed belt.

In the case of further preferred designs of the invention, provision can be made to mount the feed carriage connected with the driving belt for tiltable movement around an axis and/or to make it possible to brake the conveying device by means of a brake released by the movement of the carriage. Furthermore, it is possible to attach the conveying device as an assembled unit by means of a slip-on coupling onto the driving shaft, whereby the conveying device may have several transporting chains or belts arranged one above the other, which are stressed individually through special fastening springs.

In the case of a preferred design of the invention, the slice delivery device assigned to the conveying device finally can have a swivelable removing arm, which is operated by an electromagnet controlled by the movement of the carriage. At the same time this electromagnet may rock a shaft on which a gear is seated for the drive of a cut (slice) delivery table with the in terposition of a freewheeling mechanism, whereby a rack may be arranged on the cut delivery table which can be brought to engage and disengage with the gear.

The subsequent description of preferred designs of the invention will serve for further explanations in conjunction with the attached drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a front view of a coldcut slicer according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the lower part of the machine shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a view in section along the line 3-3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a view in section along the line 4-4 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 shows a view in section along the line 5-5 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a view in direction of arrow A in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a top view of the delivery and conveying device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a view in section along the line 8-8 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a view of a toothed belt used in accordance with the invention and FIG. 10 shows a section of the toothed belt along the line 10-10 in FIG. 9.

As becomes clear from FIG. 1, a coldcut slicer has an undercarriage or machine frame 1 on which, in a manner known per se and therefore not requiring further explanation, a feed carriage 2 with plate 3 is reciprocally movable perpendicularly to the plane of the drawing of FIG. 1. Furthermore, a motor driven revolving circular knife 4 (see FIG. 7) is arranged in a manner known per se on the machine, which knife will cut off a slice 6 of adjustable thickness during the reciprocating movement of the feed carriage 2 from a sausage 5 or similar article placed on the plate 3. The cutoff slice 6 will be guided even during the cutting off process by guide elements 7, 8 and 9 to pin 11 of a conveying device 12 having an endlessly revolving conveyor element, and is guided away from this device from the place of cutting (in FIG. 7) toward the left. After the conveying device 12 has come to a standstill, a delivery device 13 with removal fingers 14 will lift off the cut located on the pins 11 and throw it onto a delivery table 15 (FIG. 1).

The conveying device 12 has several chains, or belts, 16 carrying the pins 11 and arranged one on top of the other, said chains or belts running across a toothed roller 17. The roller 17 is connected by means of a slip-on coupling 18 with a rotatably mounted driving shaft 19 of the conveying device 12. The belts or chains 16 of the conveying device furthermore run via individual gears 22 mounted in a carrier frame 21 on the side opposite the roller 17, which gears are shiftably mounted for movement longitudinally of the path of the chains 16. The individual gears 22 are pressed by individual fastening springs 23 (FIG. 7) against the chains 16 and in this manner they are stretched individually. This individual stretching of the chains has the advantage that even in the case of a slightly differing length of the individual chains, each chain will always have the required tension. Furthermore, the conveying device 12 inclusive of the carriage frame 21, roller 17 and gears 22 forms a fixed constructional unit which can be slid on as a whole onto the machine frame with the intermediation of the slip-on coupling 18.

As already mentioned, the present invention deals with an improvement of the drive of the conveying device 12. This drive, which is derived from the reciprocating movement of the feed carriage 2, will now be described. In this case, the problem must be solved of aligning the reciprocating movement of the feed carriage 2 in such a manner that the drive of the conveying device 12 always takes place only in one direction and that the slices of sausage are always carried out only in one direction from the place where they are cut. As can be seen from FIG. 2, the drive of the shaft 19 of the conveying device 12 takes place via a toothed belt 32 which is attached to the plate 24, firmly connected with the carriage 2 by means of locking plates 33 and 34. The attachment of the toothed belt 32 at the same time is such that the carriage 2 can be tilted by a guide axis 25 (FIG. 1) in all positions in order to be able to clean knife 4 easily. The toothed belts 32 connected with carriage 2 via the locking plates 33 and 34 are shown in detail in FIGS. 9 and 10. The toothed belt on one ofits sides is provided with teeth 26 over its entire length, which teeth extend across the entire width of the belt. On the side opposite teeth 26, teeth 27 are arranged on a relatively short partial stretch of the belt, which are narrower than teeth 26 and which do not extend across the entire width of the belt, so that on the upper and lower sides of the teeth 27 a smooth marginal strip remains free. As can be seen from FIG. 10, the body 28 of the toothed belt is reinforced by wire inserts 29. The entire toothed belt consists of a flexible, preferably slightly elastic material, such as rubber or plastic.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, the toothed belt 32 starting out from the locking plate 33 runs to an idling roller 37 and from there after deflection around the gear 45 disposed on a shaft 44 (FIGS. 3 and 8) and around an idling roller 91, 92 to a gear 38 arranged on the shaft 19 (FIGS. 3 and 4) and from there across an additional deflecting idling roller 39. 41 back to the locking plate 34 connected with the carriage 2. At the same time the teeth 26 of belt 32 constantly engage with the gear 38 seated on shaft 19. Between the gear 38 and the shaft 19 there is a free wheeling mechanism 42 (FIGSv 3, 4) arranged in such a manner, that the shaft 19 is driven in only one direction by the gear 38 moved by the belt 32. This direction corresponds to the direction of transportation of the conveying device 12. Thus, in FIG. 7, the roller 17 connected firmly with the shaft 19 via the slip-on coupling I8 revolves in a clockwise direction whenever the carriage 2 connected with the toothed belt 32 is shifting backwards or in FIG. 2 in the direction of arrow 43. The transportation speed of the conveying device at the same time is always equal to the speed of carriage 2. When the movement of the carriage 2 takes place in a forward direction, counter to the direction of arrow 43, it is true that the gear 38 is likewise driven by the toothed belt 32, but now the shaft 19 and with it the conveying device 12 remains at rest, since the freewheeling mechanism 42 interposed between the shaft 19 and the gear 38 uncouples the gear 38 from shaft 19 and lets it idle.

As already indicated, it is important to utilize the movement of the carriage 2 taking place in a forward direction oppositely to the arrow 43 for driving the conveying device 12 in the same direction, in order in this manner to avoid the necessity that the carriage 2 might have to be moved each time beyond the place of cutting, in a backward direction in order to carry away a cutofi slice 6 with the help of the conveying device 12. The narrower teeth 27 arranged on the backside of belt 32 and extending only over a partial piece of the toothed belt, and which has already been mentioned, serve this purpose. These teeth 27 at a certain position of the carriage 2 engage with gear 45 (FIGS. 3 and 8) connected firmly with the rotatably mounted shaft 44. Another gear 47 is connected with shaft 44 through a freewheeling mechanism 46. Around gear 47 there runs a second toothed belt 48 which is stretched by a stretching roller 49 (FIG. 2) and which drives gear 51 connected firmly with the driving shaft 19 of the conveying device 12.

If the carriage 2 has been pushed sufficiently far backward, then in the case of a forward movement of the carriage taking place in the opposite direction of arrow 43, teeth 27 of the belt 32 engage with the gear 45 connected firmly with the shaft 44, so that with the mediation of shaft 44 of the gear 47, connected in this case via the freewheeling mechanism 46 in a positively connecting manner with the shaft 44, the toothed belt 48 and gear 51, the shaft 19 is rotated in the same direction as in the case of a shifting of the carriage backward in the direction of arrow 43. In this manner a synchronization of the reciprocating carriage movement will be accomplished with reference to the direction of movement of the carriage device 12.

In the case of the method of operation described, the freewheeling mechanism 42 serves for the purpose of uncoupling the gear 38, which had been driven by the toothed belt 32 during shifting of the carriage in the direction opposite to the arrow 43, from the shaft 19, while the freewheeling mechanism 46 has the purpose of uncoupling the shaft 19, driven by the second toothed belt 48 and gear 51, from the shaft 44 whenever the narrower teeth 27, arranged on the rear side of the toothed belt, drive gear 45 and thus shaft 44 during the shifting of the carriage in the direction of arrow 43.

Whenever the section of the toothed belt 32, carrying the narrow teeth 27, has run off the gear 45 during the movement of the carriage 2 while moving in the opposite direction of arrow 43, then the driving shaft 19 and the conveying device 12 will come to a standstill. In order that the conveying device will always come to rest exactly at the same spot, a brakeshoe 55 (FIGS. 2, 3, 8) is provided, which acts on the gear 47. The operation of the brake 55, prestressed by a spring 57 and mounted swingingly on an axis 56, takes place via a lever arm 58 connected with said brake, which lever arm is pressed down by a cam 59 arranged on carriage 2 whenever the narrow teeth 27 on the back of the toothed belt 32 have run off gear 45, and thereby presses the shoe brake 55 against gear 47.

As can be seen from FIG. 8, on both sides of gear 45 cooperating with the narrow teeth 27 on the rear of the belt, flanged-coupling pulleys 61, 62 are mounted on shaft 44 freely rotatable so as to provide a track for the toothed belt 32. The diameter of the track of the flanged-coupling pulleys 61, 62 is somewhat larger than the largest diameter of gear 45. The portion of the toothed belt with the smooth surfaces above and below the narrow teeth 27 fits against the track of the flangedcoupling pulleys 61, 62. In this manner gear 45 will not be driven by the toothed belt 32 whenever its narrow teeth 27 do not engage with this gear.

As already mentioned, the cutoff slices 6 fixed on pins 11 of the conveying device 12 are transferred from an unloading device 13 to an unloading table 15. The fingers l4 stripping the slices from the pins 11 are attached to a removal arm 65 which is connected firmly with shaft 66 mounted rotatably in the machine frame 1 (FIGS. 1, 5 and 6). The shaft 66 on its part is connected via a system consisting of two levers 67 and 68 with another shaft 69 mounted rotatably on the machine frame in such a manner, that in the case of rotation of shaft 69 back and forth the removal arm 65 with its fingers I4 is swung downwards from the position shown in FIG. 1, at the same time the slice 6 is stripped from pins 11 and transferred to table 15 on which previously a sheet of paper has been placed. In FIG. 1 the removal arm 65 abuts against a preferably elastic stop 75 (FIGS. 5 and 6).

Shaft 69 is turned by an electromagnet 71 (FIG. 2), whose spring loaded armature is connected by an element 72 to an arm 73 connected firmly with the shaft 69. The electromagnet 71 will be operated via a switch 74 upon withdrawal of carriage 2 for a short time through the fact that the cam element 59 connected with the carriage runs up against an operating knob 76 of the switch 74.

In the rest position of the unloading device (FIGS. 1 and 7), the fingers 14 lie between the chains 16 running in parallel to one another behind the plane of transportation of the cut slices 6, so that the slices are not touched by the fingers during their movement. The edges of fingers 14 have recesses 77 in order to decrease the contact surface with the slices.

On shaft 69 a gear 82 is arranged with the interposition of a freewheeling mechanism 81 (FIG. 5), so that the gear is driven by the shaft 69 only in one direction. The gear 82 mates with a rack 83 which is disposed on the mounting block of the unloading table 15 so that it can be shifted by a rod 84. The rack 83 is mounted swivelably at its ends on two bolts 86, of which only one bolt is visible in FIG. 6. Furthermore, a handle 87 (FIG. 2) is connected with the rack 83, so that this rack 83 can be made to engage and disengage with gear 82 through the proper swiveling movement. In addition, the length of the rack 83 is dimensioned in such a manner, that said rack will be out of engagement with gear 82 in the rear and front end position of the unloading table 15 connected with the bearing block 80.

Whenever the unloading table is in its rear or front end position or whenever the rack 83 has been swung up so that the gear 82 does not mate with the rack, the unloading table 15 will remain at rest despite the reciprocating movement of carriage 2 and the oscillating movement of shaft 69 connected with it and controlled via the electromagnet 71 and of the oscillating movement of the gear 82 seated on said shaft. Consequently in that position the cutoff slices are stacked by the unloading device 13 so that they lie on top of one another on the table 15. However, whenever the rack 83 is made to engage with the gear 82, each cutting off of a slice is followed by a short forward movement of table 15, so that the cutoff slices in that case are placed onto the table slightly displaced from one another in the form of scales. The mutual displacement of the individual slices covering each other only partially depends on the transmission ratio of the lever arm 72 and 73 and on the diameter of gear 82.

The swivelability of rack 83 furthermore also serves for the purpose of releasing the connection of the rack with the gear 82 in order to be able to return the unloading table 15 without hindrance to its starting position.

One skilled in the art can easily vary the described embodiment of the invention given by way of example without thereby deviating from .the inventive idea. Thus it would be possible to provide two separated toothed belts instead of the one belt 32 with teeth on both sides for the drive of the conveying device 12, the teeth of the separate belts being directed to opposite sides, whereby the conveying device is driven during the forward movement of carriage 2 by the one and during the return movement by the other toothed belt. Finally, it would be possible to use a gear chain instead of the toothed belt.

We claim:

1. In a slicing machine for food products of the character wherein a rotating knife is mounted on a frame for cutting successive slices from a product positioned on a reciprocating feed carriage, and including conveying means to receive said cut slices and move them successively away from the knife, the combination including a drive shaft for moving said conveying means, drive transmission means connected with said feed carriage and said drive shaft, said transmission means including two freewheeling means for converting said reciprocatory movement to rotary movement of said drive shaft in one direction.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said drive transmission means includes a toothed belt means, one side of the belt means having a continuous series of teeth, the other side of the belt means having a series of teeth extending over only a portion of its length, and means operatively connecting said one side of the belt means with said drive shaft during movement of the feed carriage in one direction and for operatively connecting said other side of the belt with said drive shaft during reverse movement of the feed carriage.

3. The invention defined in claim 2, wherein said drive transmission means includes a first gear disposed in operative engagement with said one side of the belt means and connected with said drive shaft through one of said freewheeling means, said transmission means also including a second shaft having a second gear mounted thereon for operative engagement with the teeth on said other side of the belt means, said second shaft also including a third gear and the other of said two freewheeling means for rotating said third gear in one direction, and belt means connecting said gear with said drive shaft.

4. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said drive transmission means includes a belt having a series of teeth on one side thereon and rotatably mounted gear means for operative engagement with said teeth, said teeth extending transversely over only a portion of the width of the belt to provide smooth marginal areas on each side, said gear means including a pair of axially spaced flanged pulleys for engagement with the sides of the teeth.

5. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said drive transmission means includes two endless belts, one of said belts having a series of teeth extending in one direction for moving the conveying means during movement of the feed carriage in one direction, the other of said belts having a series of teeth extending in the opposite direction from the first series of teeth for moving the conveying means during the reverse movement.

6. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said feed carriage includes support means on said frame having pivotal mounting means for tilting the feed carriage about a horizontal axis.

7. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said drive transmission means includes breaking means for stripping movement of the conveying means, and means connected with said feed carriage for actuating said braking means.

8. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said conveying means includes support means on said frame including detachable coupling means between said drive shaft and said drive transmission means whereby said conveying means may be removed from said frame.

9. The invention defined in claim I, wherein said conveying means includes a plurality of endless chains, one end of a chain being mounted on a fixed support, the other end of a chain being mounted on a support having means for shifting the support longitudinally of the path of the chain, and spring means for urging movement of a shiftable support for maintaining the chain stretched.

10. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said conveying means also includes a removal arm mounted on the frame for oscillating rotary movement, and electromagnetic operating means for oscillating said arm including switch means actuated by movement of the feed carriage means to actuate the electromagnetic operating means.

11. The invention defined in claim 10, wherein said conveying means also includes unloading table means mounted for movement on the frame, said mounting means including another shaft means having freewheeling means connecting the shaft means with the unloading table means for moving the table in response to rotation of the shaft means in one direction only, said electromagnetic operating means including reciprocating armature means, and lever means connecting the armature means for oscillating said another shaft means.

12. The invention defined in claim 11, wherein said another shaft means includes rack and gear means for moving the unloading table means, said rack being movably mounted on the unloading table means for disengagement with the gear. 

1. In a slicing machine for food products of the character wherein a rotating knife is moUnted on a frame for cutting successive slices from a product positioned on a reciprocating feed carriage, and including conveying means to receive said cut slices and move them successively away from the knife, the combination including a drive shaft for moving said conveying means, drive transmission means connected with said feed carriage and said drive shaft, said transmission means including two freewheeling means for converting said reciprocatory movement to rotary movement of said drive shaft in one direction.
 2. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said drive transmission means includes a toothed belt means, one side of the belt means having a continuous series of teeth, the other side of the belt means having a series of teeth extending over only a portion of its length, and means operatively connecting said one side of the belt means with said drive shaft during movement of the feed carriage in one direction and for operatively connecting said other side of the belt with said drive shaft during reverse movement of the feed carriage.
 3. The invention defined in claim 2, wherein said drive transmission means includes a first gear disposed in operative engagement with said one side of the belt means and connected with said drive shaft through one of said freewheeling means, said transmission means also including a second shaft having a second gear mounted thereon for operative engagement with the teeth on said other side of the belt means, said second shaft also including a third gear and the other of said two freewheeling means for rotating said third gear in one direction, and belt means connecting said gear with said drive shaft.
 4. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said drive transmission means includes a belt having a series of teeth on one side thereon and rotatably mounted gear means for operative engagement with said teeth, said teeth extending transversely over only a portion of the width of the belt to provide smooth marginal areas on each side, said gear means including a pair of axially spaced flanged pulleys for engagement with the sides of the teeth.
 5. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said drive transmission means includes two endless belts, one of said belts having a series of teeth extending in one direction for moving the conveying means during movement of the feed carriage in one direction, the other of said belts having a series of teeth extending in the opposite direction from the first series of teeth for moving the conveying means during the reverse movement.
 6. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said feed carriage includes support means on said frame having pivotal mounting means for tilting the feed carriage about a horizontal axis.
 7. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said drive transmission means includes breaking means for stripping movement of the conveying means, and means connected with said feed carriage for actuating said braking means.
 8. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said conveying means includes support means on said frame including detachable coupling means between said drive shaft and said drive transmission means whereby said conveying means may be removed from said frame.
 9. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said conveying means includes a plurality of endless chains, one end of a chain being mounted on a fixed support, the other end of a chain being mounted on a support having means for shifting the support longitudinally of the path of the chain, and spring means for urging movement of a shiftable support for maintaining the chain stretched.
 10. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said conveying means also includes a removal arm mounted on the frame for oscillating rotary movement, and electromagnetic operating means for oscillating said arm including switch means actuated by movement of the feed carriage means to actuate the electromagnetic operating means.
 11. The invention defined in claim 10, wherein said conveying means also includes unlOading table means mounted for movement on the frame, said mounting means including another shaft means having freewheeling means connecting the shaft means with the unloading table means for moving the table in response to rotation of the shaft means in one direction only, said electromagnetic operating means including reciprocating armature means, and lever means connecting the armature means for oscillating said another shaft means.
 12. The invention defined in claim 11, wherein said another shaft means includes rack and gear means for moving the unloading table means, said rack being movably mounted on the unloading table means for disengagement with the gear. 